by BELLA COUNIHAN
It's been a big week. The climate change/ETS debate is still in flux in one of the most exciting and bizarre weeks ever, with pointless leadership spills, mass resignations and prospects for more Liberal Party chaos to come.
At the beginning of the week there were a million hypotheticals and lots of guesswork; will the ETS be passed? Will Turnbull remain leader? We still don't know.
But let's look back to one of the key reasons for all this kerfuffle, a split in the Liberal Party over whether or not we should be doing anything before the global climate summit in Copenhagen also known as COP15 in December. But maybe endless political tedium isn't the answer. Maybe we need to inject a little musical inspiration into the mix to solve this highly complex dilemma. Maybe we need a light rock ballad to solve all our climate worries?
The Rock Doctors, a Dad band from Adelaide, have beaten Goanna to the punch. Before you could say "Get out the acoustic guitar and hold your lighter high and sway" they have written a hopeful ballad, entitled simply Copenhagen. The message and sentiment is encapsulated in the chorus sung by local songstress Jane-Ann Power, "Want something, say something, do something", with backing vocals "the world must change".
Although my favourite/the most unusual lyric has to be "don't waste your time just do something right now".
This may well be at best terrible Eurovision material sung by some Doctors/Dads in the suburbs of Adelaide, but the intent is what is important here. Patrick O'Leary, rhythm guitarist in the four-piece and composer of the song, said on the rockdoctors.net "normally I'm not inspired enough to write a political song, however, this time I think politicians should cease trading on their emissions and actually 'do something' for climate change". O'Leary pointed to Hawthorn coach John Kennedy's prophetic words, "Don't think, don't hope. Do. Do something", which shows that international political dynamics and AFL footy in the '70s do have something in common after all.
Music has always had a political stream; the obvious Bonos and other hairy Irish fellas come to mind. Our own Environment Minister Peter Garrett (though as you type his name into Google it is unfairly suggested that you add the words "sell out" to your search) obviously has a big history with political song writing.
He once said: "I think songs matter, that music matters, indeed I know it does. Music is a major cultural reference point for people of all ages. Songs are often the poetry of the moment, and can reflect the politics of the moment too."
There is no doubt music plays an important part in our lives. But aren't songs with a political message they just naive? I think you'd have to say in most cases yes. The last time that they probably did make a difference was 30 years ago. I'm thinking Vietnam War, I'm thinking long hair, I'm thinking a time long ago. Expectations about change through song were higher and people were more keen to be politically involved. Although O'Leary maintains that he will send the song to radio stations in Denmark, let's hope there at least, in the bicycle-riding nation, the song might catch on.
Then again what about the expectations of this climate summit? Is it naive to expect anything concrete to emerge, songs or no? Most of us want and expect something to happen. But we've seen it before, a summit is organised, countries go there saying they need concessions because of x and y factors in the domestic economic/political situations. Other countries say if they're not on board then we won't get on board. It becomes a game of international chicken in reverse — no one wants to go too far. The terms always become politically binding not legally binding and shouted out at the end is how much progress there's been.
Recent events could also no doubt put pressure on the summit. The international leaked emails scandal, where hackers obtained and distributed emails that suggested climate researchers at the University of East Anglia had manipulated data, has been jumped on by climate sceptics. Although Obama has announced that he will now definitely be attending. Swings and roundabouts I suppose.
After this week most are certainly tired of this climate related chaos and over-politicisation of the issue in parliament. It's good to know that people still feel that a song can at least help the befuddled mess we have before us. The Goanna certainly appreciates the sentiment.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
The two faces of Scientology
Scientology is just a big joke to most of us. The religion that every other religion laughs at and teases in the theological playground. But people still subscribe to its pseudo-Freudian science fiction based beliefs.
Scientology has always been very secretive about its practices and vague about underlying parts of its faith, although never secret about the celebrity membership it shouts from the rooftops. In Senator Nick Xenophon's remarkable speech under parliamentary privilege to the Senate on Wednesday we got a significant glimpse through letters of ex-Scientology members. The authors collectively tell a story of Scientology's suggested mafia-like tendencies, alleging blackmail, imprisonment, coercion, forced separation of loved ones and even murder and forced abortions.
The Church of Scientology strenuously deny these accusations. But with allegations like these and an increasing number of leaked internal videos on the internet, will more knowledge of the alleged abuses and bizarreness of this institution be Scientology's undoing? Do people just need more credible information about the organisation's true goings on to turn away? The church has been growing since it was established mid-last century. Its principal spokesman Tommy Davis says, scarily enough, that ''Scientology has grown more in the last five years than in the last five decades combined''.
This is despite an avalanche of information that points to some strange activities within the church. There is even an anonymous internet group called, originally enough ''Anonymous'', which is dedicated to tracking down the stuff the church does not want you to see. This interview in which actor Tom Cruise basically rants and laughs while using apparent Scientology codes like KSW (keep Scientology working) and SP (suppressive persons) as the music to Mission Impossible plays in the background, is the most infamous example and went viral across the internet. The church in fact was so cut about this internal leak going public that they tried to sue YouTube for keeping the videos up, claiming copyright infringement.
Scientology.org is the Church of Scientology's official line of communication. Hours and hours worth of videos describing on a glossy website the ins and outs of a fuzzy sort of philosophy and vague truisms such as ''understanding is obtained through knowledge and information''. This is the very public face of the self-help version of this philosophy, which emphasises freedom of religion and equal rights. The videos also run on a dedicated YouTube channel showing just your average Scientologists as race car drivers, fashion designers, soccer players and other glamorous careers. This public face of the church online has also been attacked by Anonymous, taking down the Scientology.org website repeatedly and sending messages of cyber destruction to the Scientology community.
Even without those on the outside trying to destroy Scientology, people on the inside seem to be doing plenty of that on their own. There have been amazing allegations from those in the inner sanctum against the current leader of Scientology, David Miscavige, who took over in the '80s shortly after the Big LRH (church founder L. Ron Hubbard) died, including a rather chilling game of musical chairs, before which 30 members of staff were cooped up for weeks and forced to think up strategic plans for the future of the church. When these ideas were rebuffed they had to prove their devotion to the church by winning the game, played to the sounds of Bohemian Rhapsody. Those who lost would be flung to far corners of the earth on Scientology postings, Miscavige saying if families were broke up, well, too bad. There were also serious allegations that Miscavige even physically beat up those around him.
Davis, the church's new PR spokesman, has also been doing a pretty good job of wrecking its image. The most infamous and embarrassing was his interview with Nightline's Martin Bashir, where Davis, when asked about Xenu (the galactic emperor who plays an important role in the church's version of history), pulled out his microphone and stormed off. Davis allegedly even went down to ABC headquarters and tried to stop the footage from being aired, unsuccessfully.
Celebrities, the church's most valuable asset, have also spoken out in recent times. Oscar-winning director of Crash, Paul Haggis left the church and sent a damning letter to Davis that spread quickly over the internet. In the letter he talks about homophobic behaviour in the church and the policy of disconnection. Haggis also says that he decided to leave the church after looking up videos and articles online, including articles on the Miscavige behaviour and Davis' denial of the policy of disconnection.
The public face with its self-help and vague Freudian philosophy seem to contradict revelations of this secret side of the Church of Scientology.
Bella Counihan is The Goanna.
Scientology has always been very secretive about its practices and vague about underlying parts of its faith, although never secret about the celebrity membership it shouts from the rooftops. In Senator Nick Xenophon's remarkable speech under parliamentary privilege to the Senate on Wednesday we got a significant glimpse through letters of ex-Scientology members. The authors collectively tell a story of Scientology's suggested mafia-like tendencies, alleging blackmail, imprisonment, coercion, forced separation of loved ones and even murder and forced abortions.
The Church of Scientology strenuously deny these accusations. But with allegations like these and an increasing number of leaked internal videos on the internet, will more knowledge of the alleged abuses and bizarreness of this institution be Scientology's undoing? Do people just need more credible information about the organisation's true goings on to turn away? The church has been growing since it was established mid-last century. Its principal spokesman Tommy Davis says, scarily enough, that ''Scientology has grown more in the last five years than in the last five decades combined''.
This is despite an avalanche of information that points to some strange activities within the church. There is even an anonymous internet group called, originally enough ''Anonymous'', which is dedicated to tracking down the stuff the church does not want you to see. This interview in which actor Tom Cruise basically rants and laughs while using apparent Scientology codes like KSW (keep Scientology working) and SP (suppressive persons) as the music to Mission Impossible plays in the background, is the most infamous example and went viral across the internet. The church in fact was so cut about this internal leak going public that they tried to sue YouTube for keeping the videos up, claiming copyright infringement.
Scientology.org is the Church of Scientology's official line of communication. Hours and hours worth of videos describing on a glossy website the ins and outs of a fuzzy sort of philosophy and vague truisms such as ''understanding is obtained through knowledge and information''. This is the very public face of the self-help version of this philosophy, which emphasises freedom of religion and equal rights. The videos also run on a dedicated YouTube channel showing just your average Scientologists as race car drivers, fashion designers, soccer players and other glamorous careers. This public face of the church online has also been attacked by Anonymous, taking down the Scientology.org website repeatedly and sending messages of cyber destruction to the Scientology community.
Even without those on the outside trying to destroy Scientology, people on the inside seem to be doing plenty of that on their own. There have been amazing allegations from those in the inner sanctum against the current leader of Scientology, David Miscavige, who took over in the '80s shortly after the Big LRH (church founder L. Ron Hubbard) died, including a rather chilling game of musical chairs, before which 30 members of staff were cooped up for weeks and forced to think up strategic plans for the future of the church. When these ideas were rebuffed they had to prove their devotion to the church by winning the game, played to the sounds of Bohemian Rhapsody. Those who lost would be flung to far corners of the earth on Scientology postings, Miscavige saying if families were broke up, well, too bad. There were also serious allegations that Miscavige even physically beat up those around him.
Davis, the church's new PR spokesman, has also been doing a pretty good job of wrecking its image. The most infamous and embarrassing was his interview with Nightline's Martin Bashir, where Davis, when asked about Xenu (the galactic emperor who plays an important role in the church's version of history), pulled out his microphone and stormed off. Davis allegedly even went down to ABC headquarters and tried to stop the footage from being aired, unsuccessfully.
Celebrities, the church's most valuable asset, have also spoken out in recent times. Oscar-winning director of Crash, Paul Haggis left the church and sent a damning letter to Davis that spread quickly over the internet. In the letter he talks about homophobic behaviour in the church and the policy of disconnection. Haggis also says that he decided to leave the church after looking up videos and articles online, including articles on the Miscavige behaviour and Davis' denial of the policy of disconnection.
The public face with its self-help and vague Freudian philosophy seem to contradict revelations of this secret side of the Church of Scientology.
Bella Counihan is The Goanna.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Internet full of downfalls and regret
BELLA COUNIHAN November 11, 2009
Comments 3
It has all the informality and appearance of privacy with all the trappings of creating a public record. Even those most aware of its pitfalls are easily able to fall into these traps - as Thomas Tudehope, a tech wiz kid and Turnbull adviser, and David Clarke staffer Charles Perrottet found out after allegedly helping to publish an Alex Hawke/Hitler Downfall spoof YouTube Video (although Tudehope maintains that he had no involvement in the video's production or dissemination). There is now a steady stream of stories like this, where an employee on a "sickie" has tweeted they've been at the pub, or where a media agency has picked up a hoax story. Most of the time, once you've posted a comment, it stays commented. Once you've emailed an email there's no way to bring it back. And the Internet voice of public individuals - or even those who work for them - is becoming more and more strongly controlled because of it.
The Tudehope/Perrottet affair is the perfect example of this.
The Hitler Downfall spoof video trend - where the crescendo scene of the Oscar winning film "Downfall" is re-subtitled with rants about other topics - was something that everyone with their hand in the online pot had at least thought about creating.
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On the surface, comparing Alex Hawke to Hitler does look pretty bad, particularly as Turnbull had given specific warnings about avoiding the public mention of the factional rivalries in the party.
The rivalry between Hawke and Upper house MP David Clarke (also a former boss of Hawke's) is particularly sensitive after an incident last month in which Hawke called police to a Young Libs meeting, claiming there were uninvited people pushing and shoving in his Castle Hill electorate office.
Opposing sources say there were no gate-crashers but people who had a legitimate right to be there.
Hawke had only called the police when he realised his supporters were out-numbered.
But it's important to put these things into context. There are literally hundreds of these spoof videos on topics comparing Hitler to lots of people. Perhaps it is in poor taste, but it is important to know the amount and variety of these videos that have been around since last year. There was one on the iSnack 2.0 debacle, another about when Ronaldo left Manchester United, one on an Obama speech and even one ranting about how there are too many Hitler Downfall videos. To be fair a lot of them are quite amusing as the full force of Hitler's rage is directed towards the trivial frustrations of parking issues in Tel Aviv or the Kanye West MTV awards incident.
As one Guardian journalist noted, it has become the medium of choice for armchair satirists.
The temptation to make an amusing portrait of Hawke, a man not too popular in Canberra or in Clarke's office, seems to have been too much for Tudehope and Perrottet.
And we've all done it, we've all sent an angry email we shouldn't have or tweeted something un-tweetable. A lot of the time you can retrieve these. On twitter you can delete tweets, gmail now even lets you take back those angry words and there is even a facebook application that can help you remove those undesirable pics of your wasted Saturday night tied to a lamp post in a tiara (or what have you).
But despite online services now recognising the regret factor - and enabling users to erase that which they no longer want to broadcast - it's still the case that once anyone else, your boss, members of your family or your ex, have seen the offending article, the damage is usually already done.
You need to be quick to delete.
These days, even if you take down your own site (for example if you've made a site about hot babes in the liberal party that doesn't reflect too kindly on the party's image) it can easily be cached. That is there will be a snapshot taken of the site at a particular point in time so that it can easily be found again.
Participating in this online world can be dangerous and even those who know that can still be trapped. The only way this kind of online quandary can be solved is to stop the public moralising about it. We need to collectively get over the fact that people say things and create stuff online they might not mean or was meant for a few eyes only.
Just like in real life.
Comments 3
It has all the informality and appearance of privacy with all the trappings of creating a public record. Even those most aware of its pitfalls are easily able to fall into these traps - as Thomas Tudehope, a tech wiz kid and Turnbull adviser, and David Clarke staffer Charles Perrottet found out after allegedly helping to publish an Alex Hawke/Hitler Downfall spoof YouTube Video (although Tudehope maintains that he had no involvement in the video's production or dissemination). There is now a steady stream of stories like this, where an employee on a "sickie" has tweeted they've been at the pub, or where a media agency has picked up a hoax story. Most of the time, once you've posted a comment, it stays commented. Once you've emailed an email there's no way to bring it back. And the Internet voice of public individuals - or even those who work for them - is becoming more and more strongly controlled because of it.
The Tudehope/Perrottet affair is the perfect example of this.
The Hitler Downfall spoof video trend - where the crescendo scene of the Oscar winning film "Downfall" is re-subtitled with rants about other topics - was something that everyone with their hand in the online pot had at least thought about creating.
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On the surface, comparing Alex Hawke to Hitler does look pretty bad, particularly as Turnbull had given specific warnings about avoiding the public mention of the factional rivalries in the party.
The rivalry between Hawke and Upper house MP David Clarke (also a former boss of Hawke's) is particularly sensitive after an incident last month in which Hawke called police to a Young Libs meeting, claiming there were uninvited people pushing and shoving in his Castle Hill electorate office.
Opposing sources say there were no gate-crashers but people who had a legitimate right to be there.
Hawke had only called the police when he realised his supporters were out-numbered.
But it's important to put these things into context. There are literally hundreds of these spoof videos on topics comparing Hitler to lots of people. Perhaps it is in poor taste, but it is important to know the amount and variety of these videos that have been around since last year. There was one on the iSnack 2.0 debacle, another about when Ronaldo left Manchester United, one on an Obama speech and even one ranting about how there are too many Hitler Downfall videos. To be fair a lot of them are quite amusing as the full force of Hitler's rage is directed towards the trivial frustrations of parking issues in Tel Aviv or the Kanye West MTV awards incident.
As one Guardian journalist noted, it has become the medium of choice for armchair satirists.
The temptation to make an amusing portrait of Hawke, a man not too popular in Canberra or in Clarke's office, seems to have been too much for Tudehope and Perrottet.
And we've all done it, we've all sent an angry email we shouldn't have or tweeted something un-tweetable. A lot of the time you can retrieve these. On twitter you can delete tweets, gmail now even lets you take back those angry words and there is even a facebook application that can help you remove those undesirable pics of your wasted Saturday night tied to a lamp post in a tiara (or what have you).
But despite online services now recognising the regret factor - and enabling users to erase that which they no longer want to broadcast - it's still the case that once anyone else, your boss, members of your family or your ex, have seen the offending article, the damage is usually already done.
You need to be quick to delete.
These days, even if you take down your own site (for example if you've made a site about hot babes in the liberal party that doesn't reflect too kindly on the party's image) it can easily be cached. That is there will be a snapshot taken of the site at a particular point in time so that it can easily be found again.
Participating in this online world can be dangerous and even those who know that can still be trapped. The only way this kind of online quandary can be solved is to stop the public moralising about it. We need to collectively get over the fact that people say things and create stuff online they might not mean or was meant for a few eyes only.
Just like in real life.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Bringing Pole Dancing to the Polls
The recently vacated seats of Higgins and Bradfield have got some interesting new candidates in the running for December 5. In something of an "F" you to conservative politics, the Australian Sex Party's leader Fiona Patten announced her candidacy for the seat of Higgins on Wednesday and pole dancer come Law graduate Zahra Stardust is going to contest Bradfield. Presumably neither think they will win, given both seats are Liberal strongholds. So is this just about trying to shock blue ribbon constituents by turning up in thigh-high boots and body glitter, with the added bonus of garnering attention for the party's message.
The Australian Sex Party are not alone - the Christian Democrats, Family First, One Nation and climate sceptic Independent Leon Ashby are all joining the circus. A race with an almost guaranteed party winner should be boring, but this time it has brought all sorts out of the wood work.
So do the Sex Party really think they have a snowball's? Fiona Patten is realistic, saying that she is "fairly certain we won't find a prime minister from the Australian Sex Party in my lifetime". A year after it was established, the Australian Sex Party is now being noticed by the media and getting some public traction. A campaign will garner further publicity and these are two high profile seats. Patten told ABC radio the seats were an opportunity to "test our electoral strength". The Sex Party does appeal to some in the community who support more liberal laws on censorship and a more comprehensive sex education in school. Presumably, not many pro-porn voters will be living in these seats. But Patten points out four million people participate in some form of the euphemistically termed "adult entertainment". Statistically speaking, some of this market would live in these electorates. And as Patten pointed out on ABC radio, these four million are "possible voters who feel that their... relaxed position on sex and sexuality is not being reflected by the current politicians".
Bradfield, according to Patten, has "only ever been held by the Liberal party, and only ever been held by a man in a suit". Candidate Zahra Stardust still maintains that a woman in a burlesque costume on a trapeze could get through to some people. A clearly articulate and intelligent woman, she is a human rights advocate, lawyer, burlesque performer, gender studies expert, trapeze artist and finalist for Miss Pole 2008.
In the end, why do we bother having parties other than the big two? If they have no chance whatsoever then why do we join them, listen to them and vote for them in elections? Minor parties have always been an important quirk of the Australian system and do play an important role in promoting issues outside the mainstream. But with Labor not running in Bradfield or Higgins and with lots of media attention on the race, it is peculiar opportunity to see a quasi mardi-gras of minor politics, complete with independents and extremes of the left and right.
One Nation is running in in both seats on the usual anti-immigration platform, although bizarrely with a Hungarian-born immigrant candidate, Steve Raskovy in Higgins. When Patten claims Clive Hamilton's candidacy is a part of the Greens "lurching strongly to the right", you can see what a bizarre display of agendas are going to be on show.
Secretly, we all want the circus to happen. We want some really mad independents and people on the periphery to go in there and shake things up. If we're going to spend serious money ($500,000 each) on two by-elections because two men had had enough of this silly game we call politics, then we may as well get some entertainment value out of it. Here's to the political mardi gras of the year.
Bella Counihan is the Goanna.
The Australian Sex Party are not alone - the Christian Democrats, Family First, One Nation and climate sceptic Independent Leon Ashby are all joining the circus. A race with an almost guaranteed party winner should be boring, but this time it has brought all sorts out of the wood work.
So do the Sex Party really think they have a snowball's? Fiona Patten is realistic, saying that she is "fairly certain we won't find a prime minister from the Australian Sex Party in my lifetime". A year after it was established, the Australian Sex Party is now being noticed by the media and getting some public traction. A campaign will garner further publicity and these are two high profile seats. Patten told ABC radio the seats were an opportunity to "test our electoral strength". The Sex Party does appeal to some in the community who support more liberal laws on censorship and a more comprehensive sex education in school. Presumably, not many pro-porn voters will be living in these seats. But Patten points out four million people participate in some form of the euphemistically termed "adult entertainment". Statistically speaking, some of this market would live in these electorates. And as Patten pointed out on ABC radio, these four million are "possible voters who feel that their... relaxed position on sex and sexuality is not being reflected by the current politicians".
Bradfield, according to Patten, has "only ever been held by the Liberal party, and only ever been held by a man in a suit". Candidate Zahra Stardust still maintains that a woman in a burlesque costume on a trapeze could get through to some people. A clearly articulate and intelligent woman, she is a human rights advocate, lawyer, burlesque performer, gender studies expert, trapeze artist and finalist for Miss Pole 2008.
In the end, why do we bother having parties other than the big two? If they have no chance whatsoever then why do we join them, listen to them and vote for them in elections? Minor parties have always been an important quirk of the Australian system and do play an important role in promoting issues outside the mainstream. But with Labor not running in Bradfield or Higgins and with lots of media attention on the race, it is peculiar opportunity to see a quasi mardi-gras of minor politics, complete with independents and extremes of the left and right.
One Nation is running in in both seats on the usual anti-immigration platform, although bizarrely with a Hungarian-born immigrant candidate, Steve Raskovy in Higgins. When Patten claims Clive Hamilton's candidacy is a part of the Greens "lurching strongly to the right", you can see what a bizarre display of agendas are going to be on show.
Secretly, we all want the circus to happen. We want some really mad independents and people on the periphery to go in there and shake things up. If we're going to spend serious money ($500,000 each) on two by-elections because two men had had enough of this silly game we call politics, then we may as well get some entertainment value out of it. Here's to the political mardi gras of the year.
Bella Counihan is the Goanna.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Swan's soup strainers reckon mo is all the go
There are so many words for them - face fungus, soup strainer, flavour saver.
It is even sometimes said that a man without a moustache is like a cup of tea without sugar. Which is why it surprised the Goanna to learn that the most uncoolest of uncool, Wayne Swan, once sported the currently trendy mo. Media and other Swan devotees were advised of his long hair wearing Ringo look-a-like past after an email was dispatched asking to sponsor his staff doing the Movember pledge.
But looking strangely more stylish than usual and with the rise in popularity of the moustache, Swan should consider the return of the handle bar.
The team "Swanny's soupstrainers", who include Swan staffers Jim Chalmers, Hamish McDonald , Finn McArthy-Adams, Andrew Thomas and Chris Barrett, have already managed to accumulate $2,500 in charitable donations, in no small part due to Swanny's inspirational late 70's furry look.
To offer up this photo couldn't have been an easy thing, although he does look distinctly better than a young Rudd.
But the Treasurer's revelation of a silly past photo does of course come from a serious place and for a serious cause. The Movember movement, apart from encouraging face fungus, was started in 2003 to promote awareness about men's health issues, particularly depression and prostate cancer. Candidates are sponsored to grow hair on their face for the month of November. The idea has since gone global and raised $60 million in donations to date.
Swan himself was diagnosed with prostate cancer and has a family history of the disease. Prior to the 2007 election Swan was trying to keep his diagnosis a secret from the press (for obvious reasons) when his youngest son during a show and tell class mentioned that his father had cancer but that the class couldn't tell anyone - especially not Laurie Oakes.
Swan has even contributed towards a men's health DVD in order to encourage those that might be at risk to go get tested.
But the photo, as well as inspiring donations, does reveal a younger, hipper Swan and begs the question of our Treasurer - what about bringing back the mo Swanny?
Many have commented that this photo does demonstrate a certain amount of attractiveness not yet seen in our Treasurer. And was it his youthfulness? The dapper outfit? No, it is the long hair and the face fungus that does it. And the thing is Wayne could easily be riding its current wave of popularity.
There really is a new found popularity to wearing a mo.
No longer limited to the realm of sleazy porn stars and 70's sport icons, the mo is having a comeback and politicians need to get on board (one sees Mike Kelly, member for Eden-Monaro, leading the trend). There are even World Beard and Moustache Championships where contenders try to go all out with a lot of hairspray and patience to create the most interesting facial hair.
One Elmar Weisser, a keen bridge enthusiast, has created both the Brandenburg Gate and London's Tower Bridge in the environs of his face for the competition. Not that I am suggesting Wayne try for a Syndey Opera House of facial hair - this is advanced stuff.
This popularity is not limited to the competitive arena however - more and more the music world, always a leader in fashion, seems to be having a paradigm shift towards whiskered musicians.
I'm not simply talking about the obvious past musicians such as ZZ top, Ringo Starr and Freddie Mercury or simply some try-hard designer stubble.
But current musicians like alternative rocker Nick Cave, Mr E from the Eels, the Magic Numbers, the up and coming Fleet Foxes who are almost entirely beard clad, and heart throb singer Caleb Followill of the Kings of Leon. Some of the best music at the moment is coming out of facial hair covered bands and I would say that is no coincidence. There is even a novelty band called the Beards whose catalogue include "If you're Dad doesn't have a beard, you've got two Mums", "Beard Revolution" and "No Beard, No Good".
Their entire repertoire consists of songs devoted to the the manly nature of beard growing and keeping.
It seems a pre-requisite at the moment if you're in a band to have at least some facial hair on some of your members. The highest respect is given to those who isolate their hair growth to the upper lip. With all the evidence of a moustache comeback, a positive response to the young Swan's whiskered pic and perhaps with some encouragement from his soup straining staff, Wayne could bring the look back.
Swan could become a cup of tea with sugar in again.
Bella Counihan writes for The Goanna
It is even sometimes said that a man without a moustache is like a cup of tea without sugar. Which is why it surprised the Goanna to learn that the most uncoolest of uncool, Wayne Swan, once sported the currently trendy mo. Media and other Swan devotees were advised of his long hair wearing Ringo look-a-like past after an email was dispatched asking to sponsor his staff doing the Movember pledge.
But looking strangely more stylish than usual and with the rise in popularity of the moustache, Swan should consider the return of the handle bar.
The team "Swanny's soupstrainers", who include Swan staffers Jim Chalmers, Hamish McDonald , Finn McArthy-Adams, Andrew Thomas and Chris Barrett, have already managed to accumulate $2,500 in charitable donations, in no small part due to Swanny's inspirational late 70's furry look.
To offer up this photo couldn't have been an easy thing, although he does look distinctly better than a young Rudd.
But the Treasurer's revelation of a silly past photo does of course come from a serious place and for a serious cause. The Movember movement, apart from encouraging face fungus, was started in 2003 to promote awareness about men's health issues, particularly depression and prostate cancer. Candidates are sponsored to grow hair on their face for the month of November. The idea has since gone global and raised $60 million in donations to date.
Swan himself was diagnosed with prostate cancer and has a family history of the disease. Prior to the 2007 election Swan was trying to keep his diagnosis a secret from the press (for obvious reasons) when his youngest son during a show and tell class mentioned that his father had cancer but that the class couldn't tell anyone - especially not Laurie Oakes.
Swan has even contributed towards a men's health DVD in order to encourage those that might be at risk to go get tested.
But the photo, as well as inspiring donations, does reveal a younger, hipper Swan and begs the question of our Treasurer - what about bringing back the mo Swanny?
Many have commented that this photo does demonstrate a certain amount of attractiveness not yet seen in our Treasurer. And was it his youthfulness? The dapper outfit? No, it is the long hair and the face fungus that does it. And the thing is Wayne could easily be riding its current wave of popularity.
There really is a new found popularity to wearing a mo.
No longer limited to the realm of sleazy porn stars and 70's sport icons, the mo is having a comeback and politicians need to get on board (one sees Mike Kelly, member for Eden-Monaro, leading the trend). There are even World Beard and Moustache Championships where contenders try to go all out with a lot of hairspray and patience to create the most interesting facial hair.
One Elmar Weisser, a keen bridge enthusiast, has created both the Brandenburg Gate and London's Tower Bridge in the environs of his face for the competition. Not that I am suggesting Wayne try for a Syndey Opera House of facial hair - this is advanced stuff.
This popularity is not limited to the competitive arena however - more and more the music world, always a leader in fashion, seems to be having a paradigm shift towards whiskered musicians.
I'm not simply talking about the obvious past musicians such as ZZ top, Ringo Starr and Freddie Mercury or simply some try-hard designer stubble.
But current musicians like alternative rocker Nick Cave, Mr E from the Eels, the Magic Numbers, the up and coming Fleet Foxes who are almost entirely beard clad, and heart throb singer Caleb Followill of the Kings of Leon. Some of the best music at the moment is coming out of facial hair covered bands and I would say that is no coincidence. There is even a novelty band called the Beards whose catalogue include "If you're Dad doesn't have a beard, you've got two Mums", "Beard Revolution" and "No Beard, No Good".
Their entire repertoire consists of songs devoted to the the manly nature of beard growing and keeping.
It seems a pre-requisite at the moment if you're in a band to have at least some facial hair on some of your members. The highest respect is given to those who isolate their hair growth to the upper lip. With all the evidence of a moustache comeback, a positive response to the young Swan's whiskered pic and perhaps with some encouragement from his soup straining staff, Wayne could bring the look back.
Swan could become a cup of tea with sugar in again.
Bella Counihan writes for The Goanna
Monday, November 2, 2009
A New Geekocracy?
The government has opened the data flood gates and said "geeks, come on in!" at an event called GovHack, held last weekend in Canberra.
Around 150 IT savvy people were plied with red bull and given data to "mash-up" - that is to make applications useful to the rest of us. There have been previous "hack days" but never has a government given out data on such a large scale to the nerd public to play around with. The government has always been obliged to give out information, but on a practical basis this is mostly in name only with long impenetrable lists of crime data, housing data and the like.
Long suffering journalists in particular have had to sit and read through reports and data to find a correlation or a clue to something news worthy and communicate it to the rest of us. This particular "hack day" could just be one step in many to make government information more accessible and governments themselves more accountable. But the prototype ideas are only templates and need to be funded and supported if they are ever going to reach their potential.
Hack Days are a form of "crowdsourcing" and in the past thy have mainly been sponsored by big companies. Yahoo was one of the first and has been getting their web developers to play with applications for the past ten years. These nerd fests are usually big events, going global and even finding extra attractions to tempt hard-working geeks - the Yahoo hack day Taiwan 2009 strippers were indeed fogging up a few thick-rimmed glasses
But ideas are usually the main focus.
At a BBC Hack Day 2008 event some ideas included an application that picked up on your music taste and recommended BBC DJs - and also a system that gave real-time dubbing to video. There was also a brilliant mash-up, combining a news cast and the classic iconic vision of Bob Dylan dropping placards next to Allen Ginsberg, called Subterranean Homesick News. The ideas that come out of these crowdsourcing events are simply a reflection of the skills and hard work of people willing to give up their free time to create something together, not unlike a tech version of a hippy commune.
The Government 2.0 taskforce, launched in June, and this GovHac event aims to do just that, get people together to create something out of this baffling amount of data. The winner of GovHac, a team of five people who had never met before, worked together to create something pretty special. Lobby Clue turns the lobbyist register and the public tenders register into a visualisation or word cloud to link what clients were given government contracts. As it very coolly describes itself "it correlates data about Government contracts, business details and politician responsibilities to show the relationships between these items." But this could easily have large implications as it provides an easy to use data base for the general public as well as the media, to see where money is being spent, creating greater transparency about the underbelly of lobbying in Canberra. John Allsopp, organiser of the event called this application "breathtaking" because of its sophistication and scope.
Other ideas that came out included Know Where you Live, an application which allowed users to enter in their postcode to get all the information about their area, potentially also useful for understanding marginal electorates. It's Buggered Mate set up an easy way to report broken local amenities rather than waiting on a government hotline or filling out a million complaint forms. Rate My Loo helps people to not only find their nearest bathroom but for all the germophobes out there it provides peer reviewed information about their cleanliness. The last two applications have the added benefit of being able to collect data to be relayed back to government.
It's great to see an attempt to open up government information to the public, creating a certain degree of transparency as well as increased communication between government and the community.
Senator John Faulkner's changes to freedom of information laws are certainly also a part of this.
So are we seeing a golden age in information accessibility?
Well, yes on two conditions; if initiatives like these continue and also if it is supported by the government to get these first prototypes towards the alpha and beta stage. Allsopp calls these ideas "small pieces". These small pieces then need to be "glued together" as Allsopp says with others and with government processes to make the information useful and practical.
These template ideas promise something pretty huge, a tangible access to and communication with government. We'll just have to see if that promise is kept.
The next HackDay event is in Melbourne 7-8 November.
Bella Counihan writes for The Goanna
Around 150 IT savvy people were plied with red bull and given data to "mash-up" - that is to make applications useful to the rest of us. There have been previous "hack days" but never has a government given out data on such a large scale to the nerd public to play around with. The government has always been obliged to give out information, but on a practical basis this is mostly in name only with long impenetrable lists of crime data, housing data and the like.
Long suffering journalists in particular have had to sit and read through reports and data to find a correlation or a clue to something news worthy and communicate it to the rest of us. This particular "hack day" could just be one step in many to make government information more accessible and governments themselves more accountable. But the prototype ideas are only templates and need to be funded and supported if they are ever going to reach their potential.
Hack Days are a form of "crowdsourcing" and in the past thy have mainly been sponsored by big companies. Yahoo was one of the first and has been getting their web developers to play with applications for the past ten years. These nerd fests are usually big events, going global and even finding extra attractions to tempt hard-working geeks - the Yahoo hack day Taiwan 2009 strippers were indeed fogging up a few thick-rimmed glasses
But ideas are usually the main focus.
At a BBC Hack Day 2008 event some ideas included an application that picked up on your music taste and recommended BBC DJs - and also a system that gave real-time dubbing to video. There was also a brilliant mash-up, combining a news cast and the classic iconic vision of Bob Dylan dropping placards next to Allen Ginsberg, called Subterranean Homesick News. The ideas that come out of these crowdsourcing events are simply a reflection of the skills and hard work of people willing to give up their free time to create something together, not unlike a tech version of a hippy commune.
The Government 2.0 taskforce, launched in June, and this GovHac event aims to do just that, get people together to create something out of this baffling amount of data. The winner of GovHac, a team of five people who had never met before, worked together to create something pretty special. Lobby Clue turns the lobbyist register and the public tenders register into a visualisation or word cloud to link what clients were given government contracts. As it very coolly describes itself "it correlates data about Government contracts, business details and politician responsibilities to show the relationships between these items." But this could easily have large implications as it provides an easy to use data base for the general public as well as the media, to see where money is being spent, creating greater transparency about the underbelly of lobbying in Canberra. John Allsopp, organiser of the event called this application "breathtaking" because of its sophistication and scope.
Other ideas that came out included Know Where you Live, an application which allowed users to enter in their postcode to get all the information about their area, potentially also useful for understanding marginal electorates. It's Buggered Mate set up an easy way to report broken local amenities rather than waiting on a government hotline or filling out a million complaint forms. Rate My Loo helps people to not only find their nearest bathroom but for all the germophobes out there it provides peer reviewed information about their cleanliness. The last two applications have the added benefit of being able to collect data to be relayed back to government.
It's great to see an attempt to open up government information to the public, creating a certain degree of transparency as well as increased communication between government and the community.
Senator John Faulkner's changes to freedom of information laws are certainly also a part of this.
So are we seeing a golden age in information accessibility?
Well, yes on two conditions; if initiatives like these continue and also if it is supported by the government to get these first prototypes towards the alpha and beta stage. Allsopp calls these ideas "small pieces". These small pieces then need to be "glued together" as Allsopp says with others and with government processes to make the information useful and practical.
These template ideas promise something pretty huge, a tangible access to and communication with government. We'll just have to see if that promise is kept.
The next HackDay event is in Melbourne 7-8 November.
Bella Counihan writes for The Goanna
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